Dental Care For Dogs:
How We Learned To Brush Comet's Teeth

We consider dental care for dogs to be a great home remedy.

Like many dog owners, we ignored dental care in our dogs for many years. We assumed that since we did not feed our dogs sugary foods they did not need to have their teeth brushed. After all, our parents never brushed their dogs' teeth!

Until about eight years ago, it was still possible to get fresh marrow bones from local butcher or grocery stores for free or a very low cost in our area. We gave our dogs bones regularly, about two or three times a week, and it did appear to help their teeth. However, once bones became an expensive commercial item, we only very occasionally bought them.Our daughters were still young the time. Getting them to brush their teeth was such a chore that we ignored the nagging thought that perhaps the dogs' teeth should be brushed too. Add to that some resistance when we did try, and we just gave up for a while.

However, when Comet was about 8 year old, we noticed that he had brown areas on his teeth, parts of his gums were bleeding, and his breath smelled bad.

We took him to the vet for a dental checkup. Fortunately, he did not have any teeth with caries so no fillings, root canals or extractions were necessary. As it was, we paid over $300 for the checkup, preparatory blood work (done to make sure he did not have hidden health problems that would affect how he handled the general anesthesia), the anesthesia itself, the dental cleaning and the antibiotics given to eliminate the gum disease.

We vowed to keep on top of brushing his teeth after that bill!

We found some liver-flavored and mint-flavored toothpaste at the local pet store, specifically for dogs. This toothpaste, unlike human toothpaste, is harmless when swallowed. One tube lasts us many months.

They also have dog toothbrushes for sale. They don't look that different from human toothbrushes so we use discarded toothbrushes that have soft bristles that are still in good shape.

Here’s how we brush Comet's teeth:

1. We place some toothpaste about the size of half a pea on the toothbrush
2. We let him sniff and lick at the toothpaste on the brush
3. We gently put the brush between the teeth at the back end of his jaw on one side and do some circular brush strokes for as long as he will tolerate
4. If he tries to chew on the toothbrush, we sometimes let him, especially if we have plenty of other old toothbrushes handy
5. Meanwhile we rinse the toothbrush out in an old margarine tub filled with water
6. Then we add a little more toothpaste and do the other side, and sometimes repeat with both sides.

We've been lucky. Some owners ignore dental care for dogs for too long and end up with a bill for thousands of dollars. In some cases the dog has to be put down. Please don't let that happen to your dog or your pocketbook!

See Dog Dental Hygiene for more ideas on what you can do to provide dental care for dogs.

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